Lives in Motion, with Slowin' Potion - My CA Girlfriends, grow with the flow, as my Father slows in his final years. Shiva/Shakti energy & God at work



Samantha Shakti Brown and three month old baby, Kiran, in their lovely abode, Big Basin Vineyard's Surya Chandra Temple Home, Boulder Creek, CA July 11, 2010

Cara Judea Alhadeff and I celebrate our friendship on her new apartments rooftop in downtown Oakland, CA (there's a playground right across the street, and a view of the Bay bridge and SF from on high. July 10, 2010



I recently went out to California where I got to spend brief, but quality time with two of my most inspirational and supportive friends, both yoga teachers of mine, both former travel companions and housemates, both friends twelve and eight years my junior. Both going through mid thirties life changes that are slowing their face paced world down.

Cara, the world traveler, yoga teacher, lecturer and erotic-art photographer, was my roomie when we lived in San Francisco's Haight (Janice Jopplin used to live in the same apartment building). Cara's an Iyengar Yoga teacher extraordinaire and an amazingly creative photographer (www.carajudeaalhadeff.com) with shows all over the world, from Amsterdam to Korea. Just three days prior to my welcomed arrival, she had left her east coast bases in NYC and PA to be carried over the threshold of a door newly opened to a world which has the hopes of 'settling' her down. With the hopes of having a child soon, Cara is prepared to be in a "slow me down" mode; let's hope she doesn't crack with the destruction-creation (Shiva-Shakti) faze that will or will not bring a calm to her chaos when the dust settles. Chaos, afterall, is often what we thrive in!

Samanthaji, married now for two full and happy years, gave birth to her first child, Kiran (ray of light), in April. (A confirming jolt of lightning struck moments after Sam asked her baby, then in belly, what he thought of her liking the name Kiran.) I found Sam and her husband Bradley absolutely glorious; happiness and Mama love radiated from Sam and her own bright light was as inspiring as ever. She hula hooped, breast fed, swam laps, breast fed, worked out with a boot camp video, and kept busy around the house, always present, always loving. Still the go-getter, Sam set an intention to "have fun through the process of loosing her Mama weight", Always filled with positive intentions to fill her life with grace.

The day after I left the VIneyard, Sam took a Mama break and went horseback riding (something my intuition told me seemed a little much...); her horse spooked, threw her to the ground, and proceeded to step on her leg and 'brake' it. Apparently, If a new born can't slow you down, a broken leg will. Sam is an extremely health conscious eater and with all the Anusara yoga and Universal Principles of Alignment her body is programed to it's ultimate blueprint, so it's no wonder that her soft tissue is healing well, and with the help of a plate placed in her leg, she is once again moving forward with the presence of Grace. Sam's text to me after the injury proclaimed with positive light, "this will make me a better teacher!" She's already a great teacher, and her positive attitude in the face of Shiva - Shakti forces is one of her best teachings yet!

What creative lives we live... every day a different page to an ever evolving story. And with the chaotic patterns life brings, moves, injuries, births, deaths, we need not let these chapters fix onto us, for we are separate from the stories. With destruction comes creation, with creation comes destruction, and with all the change is growth. Do not get fixed on one chapter, live as if the breath that moves through you. Enjoy your days with grace and a positive attitude, like Sam; open to the unknown and to possibility like Cara, and share in these two women's courage, a knowing consciousness, that life is filled with destruction and creation, Shiva Shakti energy. We must first be open to the breaking down of our attachments, patterns, and stories, in order to create something new, something different, something better... us.

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